CASSVILLE, W.Va. — Riyad Shehadeh scored four times for Long Island University, but Gannon University was able to overcome a 9-6 halftime deficit to upend the Sharks, 15-14, on the final day of the Salem Invitational hosted by Salem University at The Peak Health Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.
Trailing by three exiting the midpoint break, the Golden Knights went to work in outdueling Long Island to rally for a victory.
Ben Fribourg connected on a penalty shot with 5:29 left in the third quarter to move Gannon within 9-7, but back-to-back tallies by Charlie Downey (3:11, man-up) and Josep Jodra Munoz (2;39) staked Long Island to an 11-7 spread.
The goals marked the final scores of the third quarter for LIU as Rajmund Farsang (2:15) and Dillon Shaw (1:03) swished shots for Gannon prior to Petar Markovic rifling in natural and man-up shots with nine and three seconds left in the frame, respectively, to balance the scoreboard at 11-all.
Jack French returned Long Island to the lead with 5:13 remaining in the fourth quarter courtesy a man-up goal, but Alexandros Kotskar drilled in natural (4:44) and penalty shot (4:12) markers before Nikiforos Liantziris gave the Golden Knights a 14-12 margin with another penalty shot at 3:36.
LIU was unable overcome the margin in the waning minutes of the contest as David Shalman put away even-strength (3:02) and man-up (1:05) tallies to sandwich another penalty shot by Liantziris (2:45) as Gannon escaped with a one-goal win.
For Gannon, Liantziris led the way with four goals, while Kotskar deposited a trio. Farsang, Ben Fribourg and Peter Markovic each scored twice with Shaw and Victor Volant tacking on solo markers.
In cage, Alvaro Marco made four saves with nine goals allowed in the first half. Hewson Morphy came off the bench to earn the win by stopping five shots and allowing five to cross the goal line in the second half.
Shehadeh keyed the LIU offense with four goals and three assists. French (three goals, one assist), Jodra Munoz (two goals), Downey (two goals, two assists), Shalman (two goals, one assist) and Logan Morgan (one goal) also factored on offense.
Manuel Diez Teran played the first half in cage for the Sharks with three saves and six goals allowed. Ryan Roth took the loss with three saves and nine goals permitted in the second half.
